Car-door.



E. ODEAN.

CAR 000B.

24u APPLICAIION FILED MAY Il. |916 29 I y p zsHEETs-snserll.

/N VEN T01@ E. ODEAN.

CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY II, ISIS.

1,2%?,9240 Patented May 29, 1917.

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EDWARD ODEAN, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 191'?.

Application filed May 11, 1916. Serial No. 96,803.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD ODEAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Doors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in car doors; and to this end, itconsists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafterdescribed and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a car body having theinvention incorporated therein;

Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, with the exception thatcertain of the parts are shown in dierent positions;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line m3 x3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a detail view in section taken on the line wt m4 of Fig. 1;and

Fig. 5 is a detail view in section taken on the line m5 m5 of Fig. l.

The numeral 1 indicates a car body having in itsside the usual dooropening 2. At one side of this door opening 2, is a ladder 3 leading tothe top of the car.

rlhe door opening 2 may be entirely or partly closed by a car door madeup of a relief section 4, upperand lower main sections 5 and 6,respectively, and a supplemental section 7. All of the door sectionshave the same length, but the relief and supplemental sections are notvery high compared with the height of the main sections 5 and 6. Thedoor sections 5 and 6 are each secured to a pair of hangers 8 forindependent horizontal Sliding movement to and from closed positions.Each hanger 8 is in the form of a flat upright bar having grooved wheels9 journaled on its extremities. These wheels 9 are arranged to run uponvertically spaced tracks 10 rigidly secured to the outer face of the carbody '1, the one above and the other below thevdoor opening 2 and eX-tend to one side thereof.

ITongues andv grooves 11 on the abutting horizontal adjacent edges ofthe door sections interlock and slidably connect said door sections, theone with the other. (See Fig. 3). The relief door section 4 is slidablymounted at its lower horizontal edge portion on a pair of longitudinallyspaced Z- shape brackets 12 secured to the car body 1 below the sill ofthe door opening 2. By reference to Fig. 3, it will be noted that therelief door section 4 extends slightly below the floor level of the carfloor and the supplemental door section 7 extends slightly above thedoor opening 2, thereby forming tight joints between the car door andthe car body 1 at the upper and lower extremities of said door.

All of the hangers 8 are located in the same vertical plane and when thedoor sections 5 and 6 are closed, the two hangers 8, on each side of thedoor opening 2, closely engage one another. By this arrangement of thehangers 8, the door sections 5 and 6 may besimultaneously opened andclosed and the door section 5 independently opened and closed when thedoor section 6 is open. Also when the door section 5 is closed, the doorsection 6 may be independently opened and closed. The relief andsupplemental doors 4 and 7 may be independently opened and closed withrespect to each other and to the door sections 5 and 6.

An upright stop 13, in the form of an angle bar, is rigidly secured tothe car body 1 and limits the opening'movement of the door sections. Onthe rear end of the relief door 4 is a hand piece 14 by which saidrelief door may be opened and closed. The relief door 4 mayI be lockedto the door section 5 for common, horizontal sliding movement therewithby alock bolt 15 and cooperating lock bracket 16. This lock bolt 15 isslidably mounted in a vertically extended casing 17 pivoted at its upperend to a lug 18 for vertical swinging movement. The lug 17 is rigidlysecured to the door section 5. A finger piece 19 on the lock bolt 15works in a slot 20 formed in the casing 17 and limits the slidingmovement of the lock bolt 15 in the casing 17. When the door sections 4and 5 are vertically alined, the lock bolt 15 may be dropped verticallythrough the lock bracket 16, which is rigidly secured to the relief doorsection 4.

As shown, the supplemental door section 7 is also locked to the upperdoor section 6 for common, horizontal sliding movement therewith by alock bolt and lock bracket of the same construction as those previouslydescribed. The lock bolts 15 and their casings 17 may be used as handpieces, when detached from the lock brackets 16, for opening and closingthe respective door sections to which they are attached.

A rectangular frame 21 surrounds the door opening 2 on the outside ofthe car body 1 and holds the door sections slightly spaced outward fromthe side of the car body 1. Tight joints are formed between the verticaledge portions of the several door sections and the car body bycoperating pairs of joint strips. The joint strips, at the left, withrespect to Fig. 1, are indicated by the numerals 22 and 23 and the jointstrips at the right, with respect to the same figure, are indicated bythe numerals 24 and 25. The joint strip 22 is, preferably, though notnecessary, formed by reducing the thickness of the door sections, at oneof their vertical edges, to produce a thin blade arranged to enter agroove 26 in the joint strip 23. As shown, the joint strip 23 is formedas a part of the adjacent upright of the frame 21. The joint strips2li-25 are secured, respectively, to the door sections and car body 1,and, as shown, are made of metal bent to interlock when the doorsections are closed. The joint strip 211 is, of course, made in sectionsto permit independent movement of the door sections.

A vertically extended lock blade 27 is provided for securing any one orall of the door sections closed. This lock blade 27 is secured` to thejoint strip 23, for a limited endwise sliding movement, by a pluralityof headed studs 28 projecting from the joint strip 23 through slots 29formed in said lock blade. integrally formed with the lock blade 27, isan inwardly and laterally projecting flange 30 arranged to overlap lockpins 31 on the joint strip 22 of each door section. Passages 32 areformed in the flange 30 for the pins 31, during the opening and closingmovements of the door sections. Normally the passages 32 are out ofalinement with the lock pins 31. (See Fig. 1). By raising the lock blade27, the passages 32 may be moved into alinement with the pins 31 and thedoor sections opened or closed, as desired.

A lever 33, intermediately fulcrumed at 311 to the car body 1, isprovidedfor imparting the necessary endwise movement to the lock blade27 to carry the passageways 32 into and out of alinement with the lockpins 31. One end of the lever 33 is connected to the lock blade 27 by aslot and pin connection 35. This lever 33 is also used in holding thelock blade 27 against endwise movement, when in an operative position,and hence, forms a lock for the door sections. ln the free end of thelever 33, is a slot adapted to receive a staple 36 secured to the carbody 1. A common car seal 37 is used in securing the lever 33 againstremoval from the staple 36. To permit lateral movement of the lever 33,in its application to and removal from the staple 36, a hinge joint 33is formed therein. A storm shield 39, secured to the car body 1,overlaps the door sections.

The joint strips and tongue and groove joints, between the several doorsections,

make the door weather-proof and also pre-` vent the leakage of grainfrom the car. The joint strips, hangers 3, brackets 12 and lock blade 27all assist in holding the door sections against outward movement fromthe car body 1, under pressure from the load in the car.

From the above description, it is evident that all, or only a part ofthe door opening 2 may be closed by several door sections. 1When the caris loaded with grain, the relief door section 4 may be opened to relievethe pressure on the main door sections, so that the same may be openedto unload the car. By opening the supplemental door sections 7, theinterior of the car may be inspected by a person standing on the ladder3, and when the car is loaded with grain, a sample thereof may be taken,atthe same time.

rThe above described car door, while very simple and of comparativelysmall cost to manufacture, is thought to be highly efficient for thepurpose had in view.

What claim is: Y

1. The combination with a car body having a door opening, of a door forsaid door opening comprising upper and lower sections, upper and lowertracks secured to the car body, hangers supporting the door sectionsfrom the tracks for horizontal sliding movement, the one entirely abovethe other, said hangers permitting the door sections to besimultaneously opened and closed and also permitting the Lipper doorsection to be opened and closed independently of the lower section whenthe same is closed, and a common lock for securing either or both of thedoor sections in a closed position.

2. The combination with a car body having a door opening, of a car doorfor the door opening comprising upper, lower, and' relief sections,abutting horizontal edges of the door sections having interlockingsliding engagement, one with the other, upper and lower tracks securedto the car body, hangers independently supportingthe upper and lower door sections from the tracks for horizontal sliding movement, the oneentirely above the other, and a bracket on the car body slidablysupporting the relief door section for independent horizontal slidingmovement or for simultaneous sliding movement with the lower doorsection.

3. The combination with a ear body having a door opening, of a ear doorfor the door opening comprising,` relief, lower, upper, and supplementalsections having interlooking sliding engagement, one with the other, abraeket on the car body slidably supporting,` the relief door sectionfor horizontal movement, upper and lower tracks secured to the car body,hangers independently supporting the lower and upper door sections fromthe tracks for horizontal sliding movement, the one entirely above theother, means for locking the relief door section to the lower doorsection for common, horizontal sliding movement therewith, 20

and means for locking the supplemental door section to the upper doorsection for common, horizontal sliding movement therewith.

ln testimony whereof l affix my signaturez Copies of this patent may beobtained for iive cents each, 'by addressing the Commissioner ofPatents, Washington, D. C.

